2
A Refreshing Youth Drama
Never-Ending Summer is about young romance between a rich, rebelious bad boy and a studious, and poor girl. Does this pairing ring a bell? It's not a new pairing, but it's definitely addictive to watch. I personally enjoyed watching this drama due to the complexity of the characters. While watching this drama, many people compared it to The First Frost, because the man is always chasing for the love of his life, while the woman is always running away due to personal, fair, reasons.
Our female lead, Zhou Wan (Bao Shang En) is a very complex character, she may not be liked by many people, but I enjoyed navigating the layers of our heroine. I would say she is a morally grey character, because she sacrificed a lot for people she loves dearly. Doesn't matter what she does in her youth, as long as she could save the people she loves. Some would say she's selfish, mean, and a liar, I think otherwise. Zhou Wan is not inherently selfish, or mean. Yes, she is a liar, but she was forced to do so. Some say she could've just told the guy, however, from her perspective I think she would prefer to keep her issues to herself. She always handles these situations alone, because that's how she grew up. She was alone in a sense, she didn't want to hurt anyone and she thinks she's not the best person if the people she loves are hurt in the process. Her upbringing explains a lot of her behavior honestly. As an adult, I think she finally learned that it's okay to lean on others rather than holding it in, and that's character development in my books. I really enjoyed Bao Shang En's acting in this drama, very natural in my opinion, it felt like she embodied her character quite well.
On the opposite side, we have Lu Xi Xiao (Zhou Ke Yu) - your typical rich, yet rebellious male lead. I personally think LXX's personality stems from his broken family. Of course, other things comes in to play as well, but deep inside I don't think he's truly a rebellious guy. Other than having a weathly background, all he really wants is someone who loves him unconditionally and gives the attention he needs. That's where Zhou Wan comes in. The way LXX treats ZW is like she's the queen of his world. When he fell for her, he would always put her first and will never forget her. I think that's amazing, and genuine. He was heartbroken several times, yet continued to love Zhou Wan, because he knew she is not genuinely a bad person. I think this is where the anger stems from as they reunited as adults. Because he loved her with his whole heart, and knew what kind of person she is, he is angry that she couldn't just tell him the truth. As an adult though, LXX was childish AF, it was very annoying and cringe to watch. Zhou Ke Yu's acting as a rebeliious guy was a bit cringe I'm not gonna lie, maybe cause I've seen him on variety shows and can tell he's just acting, and not embodying the bad boy persona. Needless to say, his acting overall was decent as well. It was natural aside from the bad boy vibes he was trying to go for, his puppy eye love for Zhou Wan felt very genuine. I think this is my first ZKY drama, not sure if I've seen him in other dramas to compare but the impression was pretty good.
The music overall was good, the story was decent. It's quite sad honestly to watch in the beginning, but as adults it's all about revenge and reunion between the leads so the drama vibes did shift. I'm not going to lie, I skipped a lot of scenes in the last few episodes. lol I feel like I only watched this drama for the lead characters, no interest in the side characters at all.
If you enjoy rich, bad boy x poor, studious girl tropes definitely go ahead and watch it.
Never-Ending Summer touches upon some dark topics such as loss of loved ones, grieving, depression, abandonment, loneliness, etc. I feel like they touched the surface of some of these topics instead of going deep into it
If you must ask whether I recommend it, I can only say it did not give me the "Omg are you watching this drama?!" vibe when chatting with my friends. Like the only thing I cared about were the main leads, and that says a lot about the drama overall imo.
Our female lead, Zhou Wan (Bao Shang En) is a very complex character, she may not be liked by many people, but I enjoyed navigating the layers of our heroine. I would say she is a morally grey character, because she sacrificed a lot for people she loves dearly. Doesn't matter what she does in her youth, as long as she could save the people she loves. Some would say she's selfish, mean, and a liar, I think otherwise. Zhou Wan is not inherently selfish, or mean. Yes, she is a liar, but she was forced to do so. Some say she could've just told the guy, however, from her perspective I think she would prefer to keep her issues to herself. She always handles these situations alone, because that's how she grew up. She was alone in a sense, she didn't want to hurt anyone and she thinks she's not the best person if the people she loves are hurt in the process. Her upbringing explains a lot of her behavior honestly. As an adult, I think she finally learned that it's okay to lean on others rather than holding it in, and that's character development in my books. I really enjoyed Bao Shang En's acting in this drama, very natural in my opinion, it felt like she embodied her character quite well.
On the opposite side, we have Lu Xi Xiao (Zhou Ke Yu) - your typical rich, yet rebellious male lead. I personally think LXX's personality stems from his broken family. Of course, other things comes in to play as well, but deep inside I don't think he's truly a rebellious guy. Other than having a weathly background, all he really wants is someone who loves him unconditionally and gives the attention he needs. That's where Zhou Wan comes in. The way LXX treats ZW is like she's the queen of his world. When he fell for her, he would always put her first and will never forget her. I think that's amazing, and genuine. He was heartbroken several times, yet continued to love Zhou Wan, because he knew she is not genuinely a bad person. I think this is where the anger stems from as they reunited as adults. Because he loved her with his whole heart, and knew what kind of person she is, he is angry that she couldn't just tell him the truth. As an adult though, LXX was childish AF, it was very annoying and cringe to watch. Zhou Ke Yu's acting as a rebeliious guy was a bit cringe I'm not gonna lie, maybe cause I've seen him on variety shows and can tell he's just acting, and not embodying the bad boy persona. Needless to say, his acting overall was decent as well. It was natural aside from the bad boy vibes he was trying to go for, his puppy eye love for Zhou Wan felt very genuine. I think this is my first ZKY drama, not sure if I've seen him in other dramas to compare but the impression was pretty good.
The music overall was good, the story was decent. It's quite sad honestly to watch in the beginning, but as adults it's all about revenge and reunion between the leads so the drama vibes did shift. I'm not going to lie, I skipped a lot of scenes in the last few episodes. lol I feel like I only watched this drama for the lead characters, no interest in the side characters at all.
If you enjoy rich, bad boy x poor, studious girl tropes definitely go ahead and watch it.
Never-Ending Summer touches upon some dark topics such as loss of loved ones, grieving, depression, abandonment, loneliness, etc. I feel like they touched the surface of some of these topics instead of going deep into it
If you must ask whether I recommend it, I can only say it did not give me the "Omg are you watching this drama?!" vibe when chatting with my friends. Like the only thing I cared about were the main leads, and that says a lot about the drama overall imo.
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